Electric cable winding and reeling device



Ma 29, 1938. w HARRis 2,112,776

ELECTRIC CABLE WINDING AND REELING DEVICE Filed Jan. 7, 1956 3Shets-Sheet 1 imicm owwis.

March 29, 1938 J. w. HARRIS 2,112,776

ELECTRIC CABLE WINDING AND REELINQ DEVICE FiledJan. '7', 1956 sSheets-Sheet 2 J. W. HARRIS ELECTRIC CABLE WINDING AND REELXN'E DEVICEFiled Jan. 7, 1956 I5 Sheets-Sheet 3 21 @Mmm xxox 59 16 Patented Mar.29, 1938 UNITED STATES ELECTRIC CABLE WINDING AND REELING DEVICE JulianW. Harris, Tulsa, Okla.

Application January 7, 1936, Serial No. 57,994

1 Claim.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inelectric cable winding and reeling devices, for wheeled electrical orother power driven devices and particularly adapted for use inconnection with vacuum cleaners adapted to take up slack in the cablewhen the vacuum cleaner is being rolled in reverse directions over a rugor surface.

The primary object. of this invention is to provide a cable take-updevice associated with a vacuum cleaner in such a manner that the cable01' a portion thereof will be stored when the vacuum cleaner is beingused thereby preventing the cord from becoming entangled with objectssuch as chairs and tables.

A further object of this invention is to provide traction operatingmeans for reeling and unreeling the electric cable which supplies thevacuum cleaner motor with current from the domestic outlet plug and saidmeans is controllable to esl-ablish a direct drive between the tractionwheels of the vacuum cleaner and the winding drum or by operating asimple lever the gearing may be disconnected and placed in a neutralposition whereby said vacuum cleaner may berolled across the floorwithout effecting the winding and reeling of the electric cable.

A further object of this invention is to provide a traversing guidewhereby said cable may be evenly wound and unwound upon the drum andsaid traversing guide is also controllable by the shiftable gearingwhich connects the traction wheel drive with the reeling and unreelingdrum.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a casing orhousing for the winding and reeling drum preferably formed of hardrubber or other material having an attractively finished surface whichmay be conveniently secured to the operating handle of a vacuum cleanerwithout detracting from the operation or appearance thereof.

A still further object of this invention is to provide means forcontrolling the operation of the gearing, from a position adjacent andconvenient to the handle of the vacuum cleaner within easy reach of theoperator whereby reverse motion may be imparted to the winding drum orthe same may be disconnected from the traction wheel drive as desired byor at the will of the operator.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentduring the course of the following description, taken with the drawings,wherein,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a vacuum cleaner illustrating anembodiment of this invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the flexible driveshaft between the wheel axle of the vacuum cleaner and the gearmechanism;

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view showing the clutch connectionbetween the flexible drive shaft and gear mechanism;

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view illustrating thewinding and reeling drum and showing the manner in which the same isgeared to the flexible traction drive;

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 55 of Figure 4,illustrating the electrical connection between the cable and the leadwire conmeeting the electric motor of the vacuum cleaner;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view through the casingillustrating in detail the construction of the traversing guide for thepurpose of winding and unwinding the electric cable upon the drum;

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken on line i--'I of Figure 4,illustrating the gear set for engaging the flexible drive with thewinding and unwinding drum and said gearing is illustrated as being inits neutral position;

Figure 8 is a similar view illustrating the gear set placed in positionfor directly connecting the flexible traction wheel drive with the cablewinding and reeling drum; and

Figure 9 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken on line 99 of Figure4, illustrating the gearing arranged for reversing the drive between theflexible drive shaft and reeling and unreeling drum.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustrating the inventionand wherein like reference characters will be employed to designate likeparts throughout the same, the reference character 5 will generally beemployed to designate a casing preferably formed of hard rubber and thecasing is cylindrical and provided at one end with a disk-shaped closure6. The casing'5 may be secured as by meansv of a strap band I to thehandle ,8 of a vacuum cleaner A as shown in Figure l.

The vacuum cleaner A is provided with the usual head 9 adapted to besupported upon the floor by means of rear rollers I0. I

The usual dust receiving bag or collector II isalso carried by thehandle 8 in a well known conventional manner.

Rotatably mounted within the cylindrical casing 5 is a drum l2 havinga'reduced portion l3 at one endand a similarly reduced portion M at 5the cables 25 and 25 and is secured to the detachthe opposite end andsaid reduced portions are Journalledin bearings 5 and l5 carried by theend walls of the casing 5.

The drum i2 is adapted to have wound thereon a flexible electric cableI1 and one end of the cable is adapted to pass through a slot l9 formedin the wall of the casing and may have its ends provided with anappliance attachment plug for connection with a conventional outlet wallsocket. The opposite end of the cable |l may be fixedly connected to thedrum and the conductors l9 and 25 may be electrically connected tocollector rings 2| and 22 spaced apart by insulation 23 and 24. As shownin Figure 5, the wires or conductors l9 and 25 extend into the drumthrough passages formed therein and through the bearing portion H inaxial bores and connect the connector rings 2| and 22 by lateralconnections.

Electric communication is established between the cables i9 and 25 andthe take-ofl cables 25 and 25 leading to the electric motor of thevacuum cleaner by means of collector brushes 21 and 25 respectivelywhich have their ends anchored to the detachable head 5 of the casing 5and their inner ends presented in electric contact with the collectorrings 2| and 22. A cover plate 29 houses able head 5 by means of machinescrews 35.

Secured to the lower portion of the cylindrical housing 5 is adetachable gear casing 3| having an annular flange 32 for receiving thelower end or bottom of the cylindrical container 5. As shown moreclearly in Figures 2 and 3; a tubular boss 33 surrounds an opening anddepends centrally from the bottom wall of the gear casing 3| and inwhich boss a bearing 34is journalled that has a key socket 341: in itslower end. A flexible shaft 35 is rotatable in the tubular casing 35 andforms communication between the axle support for the rear wheels |5 ofthe vacuum cleaner and the rotatable bearing 34.. The upper end of theflexible shaft 35 has a key portion 350 adapted to be received in thekey socket 34a in the bearing 34 and the lower end of the flexible shaft35 extends through the bearings for the wheels I 5 as at 35b with one ofthe wheels I 5 secured as at 350 to the shaft section 35d.

The 'key portions 35a and 34a constitute clutch elements that areengaged and disengaged with each other by means of a pair of clamplevers 35d pivotally supported as at 35c on a collar 35! fixed to theflexible shaft casing 35, the levers 35d being tensioned as at 35;! tomove the hook ends 35h thereof into selective reception in spacednotches 35i formed in the outer side of the tubular boss 33;

Rigidly secured to the reduced bearing portion l3 of the drum I2 is agear 45 which is adapted to be driven by the drive gear 4| secured tothe upper end of'the bearing 34 and said gears 45 and 4| are connectedand adapted to be driven in the same direction by means of an idle gear42 mounted upon a pin 43 having sliding movement within slots 44 and 440formed in the bottom wall of the casing 5 and the bottom wall of thegear casing 3| and whereby said idle gear 42 may be moved-toward andaway from the gears 45 extending through .an opening 41 formed'in thecylindrical casing 5 and into the handle 5 through an opening 45 andconnected to one throw of a crank 49 having the stub shaft 55 journalledin bearings formed in the handle 3 as at 5|. The arm 45 of the yoke 45is provided with a bearing 52 on one end thereof which encircles thethrow 49 so'that rotation of the crank 55 will efl'ect the movement ofthe yoke 45 and'cause'the idle gear 42 to be moved into and out of meshwith the gears 45 and 4| whereby a direct drive will be establishedbetween the flexible shaft 35' and winding and unwinding drum i2.

The crank 55 is provided with a crank throw 53 to which is attached aconnecting rod 54 as at 55 and the opposite end of the connecting rod 54is attached to an operating flnger piece 55 mounted adjacent the gripPortion of the handle 5 as clearly shown in Figure 1; Said finger pieceoperates in a slot 51 formed in the handle 5 ad- Jacent the motorcontrol switch 55 to which may be connected the cables 25 and 25 encasedin a housing 55a. The cables may then be connected to the electric motorwhich is mounted on the suction head of the vacuum cleaner 9.

Reverse gearing is provided for causing the drum l2 to operate or rotatein a reverse direction from the drive shaft 35 and includes a gear 55adapted to mesh with the gear 4| and such gear 551s rigidly secured to ashaft 5| on the opposite end of which is provided a smaller gear 52,both gears being mounted in a yoke 53 having slots 54 for-receivingtheshaftii. An arm 55 connects the yoke 53 as at. 55 to a throw 51 of thecrank shaft 55 whereby saidiyoke 53 may be moved toward and away fromthe gears 45 and 4|. The yoke 53 is extended as at 53 and between thearms of the yoke there is provided a gear 59 mounted on a pin 53 whichgear is in mesh with the gear 52 and is adapted to mesh with the gear 45when the crank 55 is moved by means of the connecting rod 54 to causethe shifting of the yoke with the resultant movement of the gear 59 intoengagement with the gear 45. It is to be understood that the gear 52 issmaller in diameter than the gear 55 whereby said gear 55 may mesh withthe gear 4| but the gear 52 will not engage the gear so, -that,,rtheshaft 35 may rotate in one direction and the drum l2 may be rotated inthe opposite direction. I

' As the finger piece 55 is operated to shift the double gear 42 andreversing gears 55, 52, and 59 toward and away from the gears 45 and 4|,either a direct drive may be established between the flexible shaft 35and drum '|2 or the drum l2 may operate or rotate in a reverse directionwith respect to the shaft 35. This is necessary when it is desired towind the cable |I upon the drum 12 when the vacuum cleaner is beingmoved toward the outlet plug andfaiter the cleaning operation has beencompleted and it is desired to store the cable I! within the casing orhousing 5 so that the cleaner may be stored.

The cable I! may be guided upon the roller i2 by means of a traversingguide including a reversing screw shaft 15 having its ends journalled inthe bottom wall of the cylindrical casing 5 and the top wall 5 and oneend of thereversing screw shaft is provided with a gear-1| adapted tomesh with'the gear 4|.so that the guide nut 12 may travel from end toendwith'respect to the reversing screw I5. The guide nut 12 is providedwith an arm 13 having an opening 14 for the passage of the. flexiblecable .l'l and the nut '12 is retained in place by means of an extensionI5 adapted to travel ina longitudinal groove 'i'l formed in a rib I5 onthe interiorwall' of the casing .5.

As the traversing screw isrotate'd, the guide nut 12 may strike the endof the casing and be reversed in a fashion well known in the art.

In operation, the free end of the cable ll may be attached to a walloutlet socket by means of an appliance connection and the switch 58 maybe closed to cause current to flow to the motor in the suction cleanerhead 9. As the vacuum cleaner A is moved along the surface of the floorrotationis applied to the drive connection between the supporting roller[0 and drum I! which will cause the cable II to be played out andretracted as the cleaner is moved toward and away from the wall outletplug. This is eilected only when the gear 42 is in mesh with the gears40 and I so that there is a direct drive between the flexible shaft anddrum [2 and should it be desired to wind the cable I! within the housing5 upon the drum I! after use of the vacuum cleaner, the reverse gearing62 and 68 may be brought into engagement with the gears and U wherebythe vacuum cleaner may be moved toward the wall outlet plug or over thefloor surface with the result that the cable will be wound upon the drumand stored in the casing B. If it is desired to operate the vacuumcleaner without employing the use of the drum l2, the finger piece 56may be operated to cause the direct drive gear 42 and gears 60, 62 and68 to be moved out of engagement with the gears 40 and ll. When thegears are in the above position, the winding drum l2 becomes inoperativeand the cleaner may be used in the conventional fashion. While the cabletake-up device has herein been described as associated with a vacuumcleaner of one type, the invention in its broad aspect may be designedfor association with a vacuum cleanerof any character, and may also beused with a wheeled machine, that may be electrically or otherwisedriven.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown anddescribed is to be taken as the preferred embodiment of the same andthat various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may beresorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the subjoined claim.

I claim: i

In combination with a vacuum cleaner or other wheeled electricallydriven device having an electric motor, a handle and a supporting wheel,a casing secured to the handle, a cable receiving drum rotatably'mounted in the casing, a gear carried by one end of the drum, a driveshaft having one end adjacent the drum gear and adapted to be driven bythe supporting wheel, a gear on the drive shaft, direct and reversedriving gears adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with thedrive shaft gear and cable drum gear, means on the handle forcontrolling the movable gears, and a traversing guide parallel with andadjacent to the drum, and a gear on one end of the traversing guideadapted to be driven from the gear on the cable drum.

- JULIAN W. HARRIS.

